MovieChat Forums > They Met in Bombay (1941) Discussion > What research department?

What research department?

posted 9 years ago by ebida3
2 replies | jump to latest

You would imagine that the research department has seen Japanese shoulders. Since this was made in 1941 Japanese shoulders were shown in news reels and the daily papers.

With that being said why we're the Japanese soldiers in this film dressed with German helmets? Might I add new shiny ones at that!

Also, the obvious plot hole is that no one bothered to tell the officers who were summarily taken off the street, their original detachment where they were. Had they Gable's character would have been exposed.

Dramatic license I suppose but audiences at that time would pick up on this fore many were in active service. After all the war was on.

[–] [email protected] 9 years ago

Not only were the Japanese soldiers wearing German helmets, but they wore them
backward. Check it out. They look like WWI era German helmets worn backward.

[–] liscarkat (16530) 3 years ago

Japanese shoulders?

At the time the movie was made, either they didn't know what Japanese army helmets looked like, or they didn't want to spend the money to make hundreds of replica Japanese helmets. So they went into their warehouse and used German helmets from some previous production, but worn backwards. They actually looked kind of cool.